Appendix 1: Case Profiles
PRIME Project, Philippines
IEAT Eco-Industrial Initiative, Thailand
Guigang Group Sugar Refinery, China
Four Indian Industrial Metabolism Studies
Naroda Industrial Estate, Gujerat, India
Eco-Industrial Developments in Japan
An African Brewery Complex in Namibia
A Resource Recovery Park in Puerto Rico
The Industrial Symbiosis at Kalundborg
For additional case profiles please see

The Cornell Work and Environment Initiative web site which contains reports from a series of EcoIndustrial Development Roundtables http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/wei/

The Philippine PRIME Project web site which contains reports from the April 2001 conference on EcoIndustrial Development in Asia. www.iephil.com

Proceedings from the International Symposium on Management of Industrial Estates Through Green
Productivity, Penang, Malaysia, September 2000. http://www.apo-tokyo.org/gp.new/A0gpdp.htm
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PRIME Project, Philippines
PRIME is an acronym for Private Sector Participation in Managing the Environment, an industrial
environmental project under the United Nations Development Programme and the Board of Investments Department of Trade and Industry in the Philippines.
One of the first eco-industrial initiatives in Asia is an eco-industrial network seeking to create a by-product
exchange and a resource recovery system to serve five industrial estates south of Manila in the Philippines.
A petrochemical estate in Bataan is also involved, with the objective of becoming an eco-industrial estate.
Project development started in 1998, with funding from the UNDP to the Philippine Board of Investments.
The PRIME Project encompasses the work of four modules: 1) Agenda 21 for Business, 2) Industrial
Ecology, 3) Environmental Management Systems, and 4) Environmental Entrepreneurship. Each module
has its own mission but staff members seek opportunities for synergy among the modules. The PRIME web
site is: www.psdn.org.ph/prime .
The Industrial Ecology Module planned its work through consultation and workshops with industrial estate
managers and staff, industrial estate associations, and other governmental agencies. Initially the BOI team
focused on formation of a by-product exchange at one estate. This was seen as the leading edge for
introducing a broader range of industrial ecology initiatives. “It is a relatively easy strategy to communicate,
it requires active business leadership to achieve, and it offers relatively quick returns in cost savings and
revenues,” says the project web site, www.iephil.com.
A crucial decision by the Industrial Ecology Module staff was to follow a self-selection process with the six
short-listed estates and to include more than one site in the pilot project. This choice in the Summer of 1999
led to a much more viable pilot project than simply selecting one of the sites. The variety of by-products
generated at the different estates will be broad enough to enable more matches between generators and
users. The higher level of commitment on the part of some estates provides leadership to the others. All six
estates on the short-list decided to participate. Five industrial estates in Laguna and Batangas Provinces are
participating in the BPX: Laguna International Industrial Park (Binan, Laguna), Light Industry Science Park
(Cabuyao, Laguna), Laguna Technopark (Sta. Rosa, Laguna), Carmelray Industrial Park (Canlubang,
Laguna), and Lima Technology Center (Malvar, Batangas).The sixth site, in Bataan Province is owned by
Philippine National Oil Company.
In a planning workshop during June 1999 each team formed its action plan, defined its project investment,
and indicated its willingness to be responsible for data collection on by-products available from tenants. This
commitment was based on industry's growing concern about the costs of solid waste disposal and pressure
from the Laguna government. Through 2000 the PRIME staff has supported the estate teams in the analysis
of the data and in facilitating information flows regarding potential exchanges. This analysis has included
identification of potential uses and users of specific by-products, reprocessing and conveyance
technologies, and opportunities opened for businesses by the BPX. The recommendations include
strategies for waste reduction in the factories. By the Fall of 2000 a workshop for estate tenants drew 70
participants who began working in interest groups around specific groups of by-products such as used oils,
water, and packaging materials.
The PRIME team discovered that the four estates in Laguna Province had started working together to deal
with demands the Provincial government has made for management of their tenants’ solid wastes. The
PRIME staff has cooperated with them in conducting a feasibility study for a resource recovery system,
including a facility that could incorporate businesses accumulating and processing by-products from their
tenants. This system would improve the performance of the BPX and could be the site for an environmental
business incubator.
The Philippine National Oil Company operates the industrial estate in Bataan, which is too far from the other
sites to participate in their BPX. This estate management team has created a strategy for becoming an ecoindustrial estate including a regional by-product exchange, a green chemistry business incubator, and a
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programmatic environmental impact assessment (PEIA). This form of impact assessment is an innovation in
Philippine regulatory structures that enables a site to receive an environmental permit that covers the
property as a whole, with a list of potential tenant companies that fall under that umbrella permit. (See
Chapter 7 Policy for more detail on the PEIA.) The estate manages community enhancement programs,
including housing, training, and micro-enterprise development components. It has also applied for ISO
14000 status. (See Chapter 3 Community for detail on the community enhancement programs.)
The PRIME IE Module has also analyzed policy barriers to the work of this eco-industrial network. These
include, “the arbitrary assignment of values for 'scrap' materials, imposing of taxes for 'scrap' materials
being hauled out of economic zones if the customs officer knows that it will be used as a production
substitute, and taxing them again when they come back in to the factories that will be using them as
feedstocks.” (Personal communication from Georginia Pascual-Sison, IE Module project manager for BOI.)
The Industrial Ecology Module has also maintained an active outreach and communications program. In
June, 1999 staff organized a one day briefing for 100 private and public sector stakeholders in Manila. In
November 1999 the Board of Investments hosted a working conference on eco-industrial estates for real
estate developers and managers and other stakeholders in industrial estate development. The PRIME team
participated in organization of a second conference and workshop in April 2001 for eco-industrial project
teams from at least six other Asian countries and the Philippines.
See www.iephil.com for updates on the progress of this project.
An Initiative to Green Industrial Estates in Thailand
We will expand upon the brief overview of this initiative launched by the Industrial Estate Authority of
Thailand (IEAT), which manages 28 estates and is planning a 29th. IEAT Governor Avanchalee Chavanich
has invited the German Technical Cooperation organization to support development of a program that will
enable five sites to become eco-industrial estates. They will be pilot sites for learning how to do this and
eventually working with all estates in Thailand. They include a Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, a
petrochemical park; Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate, with automotive and electronics factories; Amata
Nakorn, also focused on automotive and electronics, and two estates built in the 80s with very diverse sets
of factories, Bangpoo and Northern Industrial Estates. The pilot sites reflect both newer and older estates
and a good cross-section of industries in Thailand. The Authority is in a unique position to demonstrate the
principles and strategies of eco-industrial development.
The Governor envisions an initiative incorporating by-product exchange, resource recovery, cleaner
production, community programs, and development of eco-industrial networks linking estate factories with
industry outside the estates. GTZ will assist through capacity development for IEAT headquarters’ staff and
personnel at the estates, technical transfer, and policy development. GTZ will coordinate with the IEAT
initiative other programs it has in Thailand, such as its energy conservation project with the Bureau of
Energy Regulation and Conservation.
The initiative will begin with the management team of each of the pilot estates forming its individual vision
and business plan and budgeting investments required for specific projects. They have identified utilization
of by-products as an early concern, but they are aware that opportunities for exchanges among the factories
at any one estate are limited. As they develop their estate plans they will start exploring opportunities for
building an eco-industrial network between their companies and suppliers outside the estates. Three of the
pilot sites are in the Eastern Seaboard area SE of Bangkok, which includes 11 estates within a 50 square
kilometer area. This provides a significant opportunity for creating an eco-industrial network across this
area. The inter-estate networks would complement the links from each estate to its surrounding stand alone
factories.
IEAT and the individual estate teams will consider creating potential supporting structures for their initiative,
including:
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
An integrated resource recovery system (IRRS) or possibly a resource recovery park;

A system for encouraging and managing the exchange of by-products (BPX);

Training and services in all aspects of eco-industrial development;

A network management/coordinating unit and working groups;

A community enhancement office to manage projects with neighboring communities;

One or more business incubators;

Public sector support in R & D, policy development, access to investment, and information
management.
Managers of the individual pilot industrial estates highlighted a number of serious barriers they will
encounter in their effort to become eco-industrial estates and to form eco-industrial networks. Policy and
regulations for the operations of estates and individual factories are defined by several agencies including
IEAT, Department of Industrial Works, and Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment. Ecoindustrial development requires harmonization of these policies and adaptation to enable by-product
utilization and exchange. For instance, a re-refining company near Rayong is limited to receiving only 5 of
the possible 20 solvents that it is designed to recycle. This limits the plant’s return on investment, the cost
saving for factories seeking to use recycled products, and the diversion of hazardous materials from the
limited landfill devoted to them. Such regulatory barriers are both economically and environmentally
damaging. (See Chapter 8 for a description of this facility.)
Estate and factory managers and recyclers all reported a need for research and development to identify new
technologies to manage the many by-products not now usable in a resource recovery system. They also
need guidance on increasing the energy efficiency of their operations and possible incorporation of
renewable energy technologies such as biogas from food, agriculture, and sewage by-products.
External project funding for eco-industrial estate and eco-industrial network activities will be required to
augment the investments IEAT, the pilot estates, and factories will be able to make. Fortunately the Thai
eco-industrial development concept allows integration of now independent projects, such as the Japanesebased energy efficiency project at Map Ta Phut and GTZ’s own energy conservation project that supports
implementation of Thailand’s energy conservation act.
The long-range plan for this initiative in Thailand includes work at the policy level within IEAT and among the
different ministries to address the needs estate managers raised. In addition it will support development of
more effective emergency management systems in the estates, capacity development to help IEAT staff
improve organizational performance within an eco-industrial concept, and transfer of technologies required
for greater efficiency and cleaner production.
This eco-industrial initiative appears to be the most far-reaching eco-industrial effort in either developed or
developing countries. It promises to ultimately impact the environmental, social, and economic performance
of all industrial estates managed by the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand as well as the operations of
stand-alone plants surrounding the estates. The Authority is in a unique position to demonstrate the
principles and strategies of eco-industrial development. The proposed vision for the initiative is: “to apply the
principles of Eco-Industrial Development as the main strategy for future Industrial Estate development in
Thailand.”
(See Chapter 8 for a description of The Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate closed-loop water system.)
Sources:
Koenig, Andreas. 2000. Development of Eco-Industrial Estates in Thailand, Project Development and
Appraisal, June to December 2000. GTZ for Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand.
Lowe 2000. Final Report to GTZ on Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand Eco-Industrial Initiative. Bangkok.
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Site visits and interviews with managers of four of the estates during November, 2000.
China
The Guitang Group and Guigang Eco-Industrial City
China produces 10.5 million tons of sugar annually from 539 sugar industries, the majority from sugar cane.
Over the last few years, the sugar industry in China has experienced a significant economic decline. This
industry has to increase its productivity to remain competitive with Brazil, Thailand, and Australia, three
major sugar producing countries. Low prices for sugar on world markets in recent decades have eliminated
the industry in former leading countries, including Hawaii and Puerto Rico in the US. Sugar production is
becoming much less competitive in the Philippines.
The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomonous Region, in the far south of China, is the largest source of sugar,
producing more than 40% of the national output. The cost of producing sugar is high in Guangxi. Most
farmers have small landholdings, productivity is low, and sugar content of the canes is low. Most refineries
are smaller scale and fail to utilize their by-products. This gap causes them to lose secondary revenues and
generate high levels of emissions to air, water, and land. The farmers burn the cane leaves every harvest
season, generating air emissions. Ning Duan estimates that there are 70,000 families growing sugar in the
Region and that there are 100 sugar mills. The economy of the town of Guigang is 50% dependent upon
sugar related industries. (Duan 2001)
The Guitang Group is a state-owned enterprise formed in 1954 that operates China’s largest sugar refinery,
with over 3800 workers. The Group owns 14,700 ha ’s land for growing cane. Though the sugar industry in
China is generally responsible for high levels of emissions, this company has created a cluster of companies
in Guigang to reuse its by-products and thereby reduce its pollution. The complex includes: an alcohol plant,
pulp and paper plant, toilet paper plant, calcium carbonate plant, cement plant, power plant, and other
affiliated units. The goal of the initiative is “to reduce pollution and disposal costs and to seek more
revenues by utilizing by-products.” (Duan 2001 and The Guitang Sugarcane Eco-Industrial Park Project
website) The following chart shows the present flows of materials and water.
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Based on Duan 2001, Figure 2
Duan identifies in this chart two primary eco-chains that Guitang has established, each of which has
additional members and some internal feedback loops.
The output of the Guitang complex of companies is: 120,000 tons of sugar, 85,000 tons of paper, 10,000
tons of alcohol, 330,000 tons of cement, 25,000 tons of calcium carbonate, 30,000 tons of fertilizer, and
8,000 tons of alkali per year. In the late 199s the secondary products accounted for 40% of company
revenues and nearly as large a portion of profits and taxes paid.
The Guitang Group’s plans for the future include expansions of the industrial ecosystem and changes in
processes at various stages. This innovative plan includes: “

Construct a new beef and dairy farm using dried sugarcane leaves as feed.

Construct a milk processing factory to make fresh milk, milk powder and yogurt for the local
market.

Construct a beef packing house to process beef, oxhide, and bone glue.

Build a biochemical plant to make amino acid based nutrition products and other bio-products
using the byproducts from the beef packinghouse.

Develop a mushroom growing company using manure from the new dairy and beef farm.

Process residue from the mushroom base to use on sugarcane fields as natural fertilizer.
China’s expected entry into the World Trade Organization poses a major threat to the economy of Guangxi.
With barriers to lower-priced imports lowered, the economy of this Region could be injured profoundly. So
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Guitang Group’s eco-industrial initiative has strategic importance for this and other sugar producing regions
in China.
City of Guigang Plans to Become an Eco-Industrial City
The Group’s example has inspired the town of Guigang to adopt a five year plan to become an EcoIndustrial City. The heavy dependence of its economy on the sugar industry makes it important to improve
the efficiency of its many processing plants. The plan calls for smaller sugar producers to send their byproducts to Guitang’s eco-industrial complex and sets targets for high by-product utilization. (Targets for the
city: “utilization of sugarcane slag reaches more than 80%, use of spent sugar-juice reaches 100%, use of
spent alcohol reaches 100%.”) The plan also calls for consolidation of cane growing land into larger
holdings. (It will require a transition for small farmers into other crops or into industrial employment.) It
includes training of industry and government managers in eco-industrial principles and methods and broader
dissemination of Cleaner Production strategies. Some of the long-term goals of this plan are:

Develop an eco-sugar cane park to enable planting of organic cane, increases in sugar content of
canes, increase in production per mu of land, and extend the harvest period.

Enlarge the paper mill with a goal of increasing production to 300,000 tons per year in 3 phases.

Switch some production from sugar to fructose, which has a strong market.

Build a facility to produce fuel alcohol from spent sugar juice and sugar (capacity 200,000 tons per
year). This product will help reduce air pollution from vehicle exhaust.

Adopt low chlorine technology to bleach pulp. Paper made by this technology will be much whiter
than the paper made by traditional technologies. (The Guitang Sugarcane Eco-Industrial Park
Project website)
Guitang and the leadership of the town are supported by China’s State Environmental Protection Bureau
(SEPA) and the China National Cleaner Production Center (CNCPC). Ning Duan, Deputy President of the
Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, has been a key advisor to the Guitang Group.
Financing is from the financial bureau of Guigang City. The local tax administration will return 50% of the
agriculture tax to construction of irrigation systems for sugarcane farms.
In India there are at least twenty sugar industry-based complexes partially similar to what the Guitang Group
has created in Guigang. In one of these cases a paper company established sugar cane cultivation and
sugar production in order to have bagasse as a by-product feedstock for its mill. Pulp wood prices had risen
too high to produce paper competitively with this traditional input. Essentially sugar production in this case
can be seen is a “by-product” of paper production. (See Case Study of Seshasayee Paper and Board
below..)
Sources:
Site visit in April 2001 by Ernest Lowe.
Duan, Ning. 2001. Make Sunset Sunrise: Efforts for construction of the guigang eco-industrial city. Draft
paper from Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing.
Nemerow, Nelson, L., Zero Pollution for Industry: Waste Minimization Through Industrial Complexes, John
Wiley & Sons, NY, 1995. This text includes an alternative pattern for a sugar refinery complex, with part of
the bagasse and all of the sludge going to an anerobic digester to generate methane, which is used as fuel
for boilers. The remainder of the bagasse is burnt in another boiler. The material output from the digester is
filter cake that goes to farms for fertilizer.
Wei Xiaolin. 2001. EIP projects in China, e-mail from State Environmental Protection Agency staff person
working with the Guigang initiative. Fri, 23 Feb 2001
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India
Ramesh Ramaswamy and Suren Erkman have played a central role in introducing industrial ecology into
India through field research, conferences, and workshops. Their organization, Institute for Communication
and Analysis of Science and Technology (ICAST), organized a major workshop on Industry and
Environment in Ahmendabad in 1999, working in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industries
and the Indo-Dutch Project on Alternatives in Development. (Pangotra, Erkman, Singh 1999) The
groundwork for this was laid when ICAST organized an earlier meeting at Kalundborg, Denmark that
attracted industrial estate managers and other leaders in environmental management from India.
ICAST has conducted four industrial metabolism studies on different industrial systems in India. These
include a cotton clothing production center at Tirapur, foundries in Haora, the leather industry in Tamil Nadu,
and a complex integrating a paper mill and a sugar mill. We present extracts from the paper which these two
industrial ecologists presented at a UNEP Cleaner Production conference in 2000 (Erkman and
Ramaswamy 2000). http://www.agrifood-forum.net/db/cp6/ArticleErkman.doc
The following cases are summarized from the paper by Ramaswamy and Erkman just cited.
Case Study of Tirupur Town
Tirupur is a major center for the production of knitted cotton hosiery. The town is located in the south of
India and has a population of about 300,000. The 4000 small units in the town specialize in different aspects
of the manufacturing process. The aggregate annual value of production in the town is around US $ 700
million. Much of the produce is exported, bringing in very valuable foreign exchange.
Water is scarce in the area and the wet processing of textiles has rendered the ground water unusable. A
large quantity of salt is used in the dyeing process and the process wastewater (90 million litres per day) is
highly saline and is contaminated with a variety of chemicals. As there is hardly any source of fresh water
nearby, water is brought in by trucks from ground water sources (which are yet to be polluted) as far as 50
Kms away at an enormous cost. A massive US $ 30 million project is under way to treat the wastewater at
Central Effluent Treatment Facilities. After such expensive treatment, the water will still be unusable, as the
facility does not include any system for desalination of the wastewater.
A Resource Flow Analysis (RFA) was undertaken for the town of Tirupur as an example of how a Regional
Resource Flow Analysis could be effectively used. The RFA for Tirupur is shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2: Resource Flow Analysis for Tirupur Town ( units: water – thousand liters per day, electrical energy
– thousand kWh per year, others – tons per year)
A was carried out for the town. Only when the figures from this detailed Resource Flow Analysis were
aggregated did the industrialists realize that they were collectively spending over US$ 7 million annually on
buying water and in addition, the annual maintenance cost of the effluent treatment plant would be an
enormous burden. The aggregate figures immediately showed that water could be recycled profitably. On
the basis of the study, a private entrepreneur developed a water recycling system, which could be installed
in each dyeing unit. The system used the waste heat from the boilers already working in the dyeing units for
the recycling process. This is a relatively low cost system, which is gaining popularity in the town.
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The second outcome of the study was that the study highlighted the fact that the calorific value of the solid
waste (garbage) was high as it contained large quantities of textile and paper wastes. This could be used
effectively to partially replace the 500,000 tons of scarce firewood being used in the town (there is grave
concern over rapid deforestation in India). Since the use of the firewood is distributed over nearly 1200
points, it was not obvious that such large quantities of firewood were being used. The possibility of setting
up a central steam source (needed by some of the industries) is also under serious consideration in order to
reduce the consumption of firewood
Case Study of the Foundries in Haora
Industrial Ecology is often discussed in the context of a symbiotic relationship between different industrial
units in a region. Hence, the concept of preparing an Industrial Ecology case study on the foundries in a
region demanded a new thought process. While carrying out an Industrial Ecology study of the foundries, it
is first essential to look at the processes connected directly with the foundries. However, this need not be a
limiting factor and it is useful to look at the other activities in the region. Such interrelationships between
different activities in the region can have far reaching implications on the strategy options for the available
resources (See Figure 3).
There are nearly 500 foundries in Haora, a suburb of Calcutta, in Eastern India The air pollution from the
foundries has been a source of concern. The pollution control authorities have been insisting on the
foundries installing pollution control systems to mitigate the pollution. The poor health of the engineering
industry in the eastern region has affected the financial health of the foundries here, who now subsist on
manufacturing very low value-added products like man-hole covers.
A new technology for the use of Natural Gas instead of Coke in the foundries (coke is the main cause of
pollution from the foundries) has been developed and it is likely that the authorities may insist on the
foundries using the new technology to eliminate the pollution problem. However, since Natural gas is not
available in the region, the use of this new technology could substantially increase the cost of production
and the foundries would not be competitive.
A detailed study of the foundries and the region showed that the industry could adapt the new technology to
use Coke oven gases instead of Natural gas. As the eastern region is a major coal-producing region and as
there are many independent Coke ovens, Coke oven gas is easily available in the region and is often
wasted. Depending on the economics, either the foundry could be relocated near the coke ovens or the
Coke oven gases could be transported to the foundries.
Case Study of the Leather Industry in Tamil Nadu
This case study is intended to highlight the option of strategic relocation of an industry segment to ensure its
long-term survival. Tamil Nadu, a state in the south of India, is the premier center in India for the processing
of leather. Water is extremely scarce in Tamil Nadu. The leather industry has been flourishing in the region
for decades. Its growth has been possibly due to the fact that Madras was a major trading center during the
British rule in India. The industry is a major foreign exchange earner and important to the economy of the
state. The strict enforcement of environmental regulations in the developed countries have also helped the
leather industry to grow, as the buyers in the developed countries prefer to source their tanned products
from India. Compliance with strict environment regulations has rendered the processing very expensive in
the developed world.
The leather industry (which is made up of thousands of small industries) is a major user of water, as each
ton of hide/skin needs 30,000 to 50,000 litres of water for processing. This is a large volume, as the average
per capita water availability for human settlement in India is estimated at around 30 litres per day. The
industry has been under pressure from the pollution control authorities and many have subscribed to Central
Effluent Treatment Plants. The water after treatment continues to be unusable, as it is vary saline. The
sludge from water treatment, estimated at 250 Kgs per 1000 Kgs of hide processed, continues to be a
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problem. The sludge is carelessly dumped and the pollutants leach into the groundwater. The industry often
buys water in trucks at a high cost.
A detailed study in the context of Industrial Ecology helped in redefining the problem. The problem till now,
was only viewed as a pollution control problem, where the effluents did not meet the specifications laid down
by the Pollution Control Authorities. Many academic studies have been undertaken to ensure that the
effluent quality "comes as close as possible" to the standards.
However, the problem is much more serious. The industry is using a resource, water, which is extremely
scarce in the region. It is also contaminating ground water in the region, which is causing great hardship to
the population, as it is depriving them of desperately needed water. The industry has been using the slow
judicial process in India to survive. However, it will not be long before the social pressure brings the industry
to a halt.
In the long term, an alternate solution will need to be found. One of the options that may be considered in
the context of Industrial Ecology, would be to relocate the entire industry along the coast, where the industry
draws sea water, desalinates it for use, treats the waste water and discharges the saline waste water into
the sea. The process of desalination is expensive. In order to reduce the cost of desalination, it may be
possible to set up a thermal power plant and use the waste heat for desalination. The sludge from the
process could also incinerated and the energy used in the desalination process.
Case Study of Seshasayee Paper and Board Ltd.
This case study illustrates growth strategy adopted by a corporate group, by which a majority of the wastes
from one activity were used as a feed stock for another activity.
The company started a paper mill some years ago. In order to ensure regular supply of raw material, a
sugar mill was set up. The waste from the sugar mill (called bagasse) was used as a raw material for papermaking. Another waste from the sugar mill, molasses, was used in a distillery for the production of ethyl
alcohol. In order to ensure regular supply of sugar cane, the company took interest in the cultivation of
sugarcane by organizing the farmers in the region. The company struck long term agreements with the
farmers to buy back their produce and in turn, took the responsibility of supplying them with water. Part of
the water supplied for cultivation was the treated wastewater from the manufacturing operations. The
company also used bagasse pith (a waste after the paper making) and other combustible agricultural
wastes in the region, as energy sourcea. This example could be viewed as an Agro Industrial Eco-complex.
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Figure 5 An Agro Industrial Eco-complex
This concludes the four cases from the paper by Ramaswamy and Erkman. This paper (Erkman and
Ramaswamy 2000) continues with an excellent discussion of the methods for conducting regional resource
flow studies and strategies for improving their efficiency while reducing pollution.
They present a full report on the outcomes of these studies in the following book Erkman, Suren and
Ramesh Ramaswamy: 2001. Industrial Ecology as a Tool for Development Planning. Case Studies in India.:
Sterling Publishers, New Delhi and Paris forthcoming.
Ramesh C:\docs\IE\IEin DevelCountries.doc
Erkman, Suren and Ramaswamy, Ramesh. 2000. Industrial Ecology as a Tool for Development Planning—
Twinning Industrial Ecology and Cleaner Production. Cleaner Production 2000, Montreal, Canada
Conference. http://www.agrifood-forum.net/db/cp6/ArticleErkman.doc
Pangotra, Prem, Erkman, Suren and Singh, Himanshu. 1999. Industry and Environment, Proceedings of a
Workshop held at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmendabad, February 5-6.
Ramaswamy, Ramesh. 2000. Relevance of Industrial Ecology in Developing Countries, draft paper.
Bangalore.
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Naroda Industrial Estate, Gujerat, India
(Based on research from Hauff and Wilderer 2000-2001)
Naroda Industrial Estate is one of the largest sites for eco-industrial development in the world. 700
companies with 35,000 employees operate on 30 km² of land. Naroda was founded in 1966 by the Gujarat
Industrial Development Corporation, which also oversees 256 other estates. Industries at this estate include
chemical, pharmaceutical, dyes and dye intermediates, engineering, textile, and food production. Naroda
Industrial Association (NIA), including 80% of the companies, has founded a Charitable Hospital, a bank,
and has constructed a common effluent treatment plant. It has also planted 30,000 trees.
The initiative at Naroda Industrial Estate is an industrial ecology networking project seeking a cooperative
approach to achieve pollution prevention. Local leadership comes from the NIA and the Local Bureau of the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Researchers from University of Kaiserslautern are providing technical
assistance and guidance in eco-industrial principles and methods. (The project is funded by the German
Ministry for Education and Research.)
The effort began with a baseline survey of NIA members, focussing on material, water and energy usage.
Local university graduates conducted surveys of 477 respondents and data was analyzed in a geoinformation system or GIS. This identified common environmental problems as a basis for designing
individual projects for the participating companies. The Association convened open meetings in which the
companies explored their needs, using a broad eco-industrial network framework proposed by Ed CohenRosenthal (as we describe in Chapter 11 of the Handbook.) In these discussions they identified focus points
for projects and created project teams with managers. Subjects of the first four projects were recycling of
spent acid; recycling of chemical gypsum; ecycling of chemical iron sludge, and reuse/recycling of
biodegradable waste.
In the spent acid project four chemical companies planned to collect their spent acid (H2SO4) to produce
Ferrous Sulphate (FeSO4). Their combined by-product outputs would yield enough to attain the
concentration necessary for the generation of Ferrous Sulphate. A fifth firm with the necessary technology
and energy supply is doing the processing. The companies will pay half of usual waste disposal fees for the
recycling. The recycling firm will create 10 new jobs.
The chemical gypsum project started with a company that discovered this by-product could be used in
concrete production instead of incurring the costs of transportation and landfill tipping fees. Through project
information channels three other companies with the same by-product joined the initial one. This group set
up the logistics and a drying area for handling their common output. They are recycling 300 tons per month,
instead of adding that mass to the landfill.
The iron sludge project involves producers of dyes and dye intermediates who generate large quantities of
iron oxide in a form that is quite hazardous. The project team identified production process changes to
reduce the volume of iron oxide and to reduce the hazardous impurities. Through the network this Cleaner
Production solution has been shared with all the firms in this industry.
The food companies at Naroda, mostly small operations, collectively generate large volumes of food wastes
(ca 100 tons per month). They have done a feasibility study to identify ways of utilizing this output, possibly
through fermentation processes. As a group they could act to handle a problem that no one firm could deal
with.
After these first four projects started 15 firms in the ceramic industry formed a fifth with a Cleaner Production
approach to assuring purity of their input materials. They are jointly investing in a testing laboratory.
The Naroda stakeholders are interested in establishing an Eco-Industrial Networking Centre to disseminate
and share their experiences and to help individual companies handle some of their internal CP issues. This
would build upon the improved access to information, easier project management, and consideration of new
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Appendix 1: Case Profiles
recycling technologies the eco-industrial network has already achieved. This initiative at Naroda Industrial
Estate has demonstrated that once isolated companies can work effectively in a collaborative approach and
improve their environmental and financial performance.
The German researchers, Hauff and Wilderer, have also been working with Zona Industri Manis in
Indonesia at the town of Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta. The latter can be reached by e-mail at
wilderer@sozwi.uni-kl.de
Resources
Project updates and Martin Wilderer’s final report will be available on the University of Kaiserslautern web
site: http://www.sowi-vwlii.sozwi.uni-kl.de
Michael von Hauff, Martin Z. Wilderer. 2000. Eco Industrial Networking: A practicable approach for
sustainable development in developing countries. Presentation at the Helsinki Symposium on Industrial
Ecology and Material Flows, Helsinki, August 31st - September 3rd 2000. Reports on projects in existing
industrial estates in India and Indonesia. http://www.jyu.fi/helsie/pdf/
Naroda Industrial Association http://www.niaindia.com/economy.htm
Ahmedabad News. 2000. Your waste my gain: CII, IIM suggest new recycling process.
http://ahmedabad.com/incity/aug/7rec.htm
Eco-Industrial Developments in Japan
See separate file for this research paper, http://www.indigodev.com/IndigoEco-Japan.doc
An African Brewery Complex in Namibia
Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI) is a worldwide network that researches and fosters ecoindustrial development initiatives. ZERI serves as a public think-tank providing technical and scientific
information for the advancement of these projects. This initiative started in 1994 in Japan through
collaboration between the United Nations University (UNU) and ZERI. The first Zero Emission World
Conference was held in Tokyo in 1995 and many from both public and private sectors participated in the
meeting and introduced the idea to their communities. (ZERI undated)
ZERI projects tend to focus in industries generating large waste streams of biomass, such as beer
breweries and other food and beverage plants. Namibia Breweries Limited and the University of Namibia
have created the ZERI-BAG (Brewing-Aquaculture-Agriculture) project at the Tunweni Brewery at Tsumeb
in the north of this southern African country. The project seeks to use the solid and liquid waste streams of
the sorghum brewery as production inputs to an integrated farming system near the facility.
The brewery’s outputs include sewage treated in a biodigester, plant wash down and boiler blow down
water, and spent grains with high carbohydrate content. The plan for this project envisions the following byproduct flows:

The digester turns the sewage into composted fertilizer and methane.

The farm uses the spent grains to grow mushrooms and earth worms and to feed pigs.

The earth worm growing medium forms a superior compost for crops.

The brewing process water is used to wash down pig pens, with the slurry going into the
biodigester.

The methane gas replaces a portion of the fuel oil needed for the brewery’s boiler.

Algae basins process water from the digester and grow algae for cattle feed.
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
Appendix 1: Case Profiles
The water from these basins flows into deepwater fish ponds to grow 6 species of tilapia that feed
at different levels.
Variations on this pattern of brewery and agriculture symbiosis are under development in China, the
Philippines, Fiji, Japan and other countries.
Source: Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI) http://www.zeri.org/systems/brew.htm
A Resource Recovery Park in Puerto Rico
Although the United States is the definitive developed country it has pockets of relative underdevelopment,
including the former Spanish colony, Puerto Rico. This Caribbean island near Venezuela is a US
Commonwealth whose development has been dominated by legislation making it an export platform for US
pharmaceutical companies. It is a model of unsustainability, importing the majority of its food, construction
materials, steel, paper, and other basic economic inputs. At the same time it still uses landfills for the major
portion of its waste stream and has a relatively low rate of recycling. The fills are polluting the island’s
aquifer and wasting resources that could displace many imports. (Lowe 1999a)
The eco-industrial park in this case is of importance globally because multinational companies are pushing
the outmoded but profitable “solution” of landfill construction in many developing countries when resource
recovery systems offer a real answer to mountains of garbage and trash. In Puerto Rico a resource recovery
facility using advanced waste-to-energy technology will be the hub for a park seeking other tenants in
resource recovery, renewable energy, and support to sustainable farming. Recovery Solutions Inc. is
developing their Resource Recovery Park (RRP) at Arecibo (in the NW quadrant of the island)
based on the use of energy and materials recovered from the municipal solid waste stream. See
Chapter 6 of this Handbook for conceptual models of resource recovery parks, as well as
alternative energy and agro-parks.
The Waste-to-Energy Anchor
The anchor for the eco-park will be a resource recovery facility (RRF), an advanced, low pollution
waste-to-energy and materials recovery plant. The facility will have highly efficient energy and
materials recovery with near zero residues and environmental impacts. The Project’s design team
is applying a core industrial ecology strategy: the creation of an energy and materials by-product
exchange between the RRF and the site’s tenants. Though the energy produced and materials
recovered will be marketable outside of the park, the first tenants will be those who can efficiently
use the energy and materials recovered and produced at the RRF. This will eliminate
transportation costs, provide a greater discount on raw materials for park tenants, and enable more
complete resource use and waste reduction within the park.
Recruitment for Integrated Resource Recovery, Renewable Energy, and Sustainable
Farming
Recovery Solutions plans to create an integrated system at the Resource Recovery Park, one that
will contribute in a major way to the self-reliance and sustainability of Puerto Rico, as well as to the
management of municipal solid waste (MSW). The RRP will promote long-term business
development in the recycling and reuse of now discarded materials, renewable energy, and
sustainable agriculture.
The RRF itself will eliminate 2000 tons/day of waste from Puerto Rico landfills and will be the supplier to
satellite industries using the facility's outputs of electricity, steam, steel, non-ferrous metals, fly ash, bottom
ash, and aggregate.
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The first satellite industries on-site will be a paper mill, a concrete and building products plant, and a metals
processing company utilizing products from the resource recovery facility. The project will re-commission a
paper mill on the eco-park site to manufacture products from recycled feedstock (old corrugated cardboard).
The facility will also attract companies processing higher value segments of the MSW stream and
manufacturing products from recycled materials. These could include a plant to shred tires into crumb
rubber and steel and a plant to make building products from recycled plastics. The tire processing plant
would require an air separation plant to produce liquified nitrogen, as well as other air products.
RRP recruitment will seek companies providing products or services for renewable energy and energy
efficiency. These include manufacture of photovoltaic cells and hydrogen fuel cells, distributed energy
systems, and ethanol production from discarded biomass. Installation of solar arrays on acres of building
rooftops will create a major generating plant as well as an initial market for a PV manufacturing plant.
The park will give high priority to selling energy at a discount to agricultural industries that can support new
sustainable farming on the now unproductive land formerly used to grow sugar cane (ca 3,000 acres
adjacent to the eco-park site). Target firms include food processing plants, pasteurizing, marketing co-ops,
cold storage, and rendering. (Lowe 1999 and Recovery Solutions 1999-2001)
Allied Community and Economic Development
The RRP will also include shared support services, which will benefit residents and businesses of
the community as well as its tenants. These may include a business incubator, an RRP Learning
Center, an RRP Research and Technology Center, environmental management services for
smaller tenants, a cafeteria, exercise facilities and a day-care center. Sharing costs on services will
lower the overall costs of the park tenants.
Recovery's planning team is exploring collaboration with the community of Arecibo on other
projects that would improve the local economy and quality of life. These include Arecibo Agro-City
(already funded by the government), an Agricultural Park Belt and Open Space Preserve, the
preservation and restoration of the historical center of the old city of Arecibo, development of a
public transportation link to the old city of Arecibo from the park and, appropriate housing
development for project employees. The agricultural programs would support redevelopment of
former sugar cane land in the region, furthering one of the eco-park's recruitment goals.
Source
Lowe, Ernest. 1999. Evaluation of the Sustainable Development Benefits of the Proposed Resource
Recovery Park at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Indigo Development Working Paper # 8.
RPP International, Indigo Development Center, Emeryville, CA
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The Industrial Symbiosis at Kalundborg
While this is a compelling illustration of the value of inter-firm collaboration, it should not be called an ecoindustrial park. To date, the focus of collaboration has been on developing inter-firm exchange of byproducts and their plants are not located in an industrial park. The companies at Kalundborg are now
considering the next steps in the ongoing evolution of their symbiosis.
One of the favorite cases presented by industrial ecologists is the story of the spontaneous but slow
evolution of the “industrial symbiosis” at Kalundborg, Denmark.1 This web of materials and energy
exchanges among companies (and with the community) has developed over the last 25 years in a small
industrial zone on the coast, 75 miles west of Copenhagen. Originally, the motivation behind most of the
exchanges was to reduce costs by seeking income-producing uses for “waste” products. The latest numbers
from Kalundborg indicate that the firms have saved US$160 Million to date ($15 Million in annual savings)
as return on total investments of $75 Million. (Noel Brings Jacobsen, Symbiosis Institute. personal
communication in January 2001). Gradually, the managers and town residents realized their transactions
were generating significant environmental benefits as well.
The Kalundborg system now includes six core partners:


Asnæs Power Station—Denmark’s largest power station, coal-fired, 1,500 megawatts capacity;

Statoil Refinery—Denmark’s largest, with a capacity of 3.2 million tons/yr (increasing to 4.8 million
tons/yr);

Gyproc— a plasterboard factory, making 14 million square meters of gypsum wallboard annually
[roughly enough to build all the houses in 6 towns the size of Kalundborg];

Novo Nordisk—an international biotechnological company, with annual sales over $2 billion. The
plant at Kalundborg is their largest, and produces pharmaceuticals (including 40% of the world’s
supply of insulin) and industrial enzymes;

A-S Bioteknisk Jordrens, a soil remediation company (a new addition in the late 90s);
The City of Kalundborg—supplies district heating to the 20,000 residents, as well as water to the homes
and industries.
Over the last two and a half decades, these partners spontaneously developed a series of bilateral
exchanges, which also include a number of other companies. There was no initial planning of the overall
network; it simply evolved as a collection of one-to-one deals that made economic sense for the pairs of
participants in each. This suggests that EIP teams seeking to recruit companies to form a similar by-product
exchange network must not over-plan. Conceive a strategy, that respects current market forces, and then
use industrial data bases and information networks to let companies know what you have to offer.
We illustrate the gradual development of the symbiosis in Figures K1, K2, and K3, showing the extent of the
material and energy exchanges in 1975, 1985, and 1995, respectively.
1
“Industrial symbiosis. A cooperation between different industries by which the presence of each increases the
viability/profitability of the other(s), and by which the demands of society for resource savings and environmental
protection are considered. Symbiosis is the living together of dissimilar organisms in any of various mutually beneficial
relationships. Here the term is used to mean industrial cooperation with mutual utilization of residual products.” From
Industrial Symbiosis, a publication of the Kalundborg companies. No date.
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Appendix 1: Case Profiles
Kalundborg
Industrial Symbiosis
Anno 1975
Crude Oil
Statoil Refinery
1961
Water
1961
Heating Oil
Water
City of
Kalundborg
Lake Tissø
Water
Beginning of the
Symbiosis
Waste Water
Sea Water
(for cooling)
Water
1973
Fuel Gas
1972
Gyproc
1970
Asnæs Power Station
1959
Sea Water
(fj ord)
Coal
Novo Nordisk
(enzymes, insulin)
LEGEND
Proposed
Core
Participant
Drawn by D. B. Holmes
Based on information from various sources, including
L.K.Evans, N. Gertler, and V. Christensen.
Figure K1: the symbiosis in 1975
The beginning of the Kalundborg Symbiosis
The symbiosis started when Gyproc located its facility in Kalundborg to take advantage of the butane gas
available from Statoil (which enabled the refinery to stop flaring this gas). Today, Gyproc is still the only
company to have located there to take advantage of an available supply.
Ten years later
As illustrated in the next chart, the second by-product flow from the pharmaceutical plant to farms, became
the largest single exchange. Novo Nordisk provides without charge 1.1 million tons/year of sludge
(containing nitrogen and phosphorus) to about 1,000 farms. This began in 1976, four years after the StatoilGyproc contract. This was the least-cost solution after the Danish government prohibited dumping of this
material into the sea.
Another three years passed before Asnæs began to supply fly ash to the Aalborg Portland cement
company, the first contract involving a company not even in Kalundborg. Finally, in 1981-82, more
exchanges developed: Asnæs began supplying steam to the city, to Statoil, and to Novo Nordisk. Hence,
the first decade encompassed the evolution from one contract to the beginnings of a real “food web” with
each of the three largest companies involved in two or more separate contracts.
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Kalundborg
Industrial Symbiosis
Anno 1985
Crude Oil
Statoil Refinery
1961
Water
1961
Water
Steam
1982
City of
Kalundborg
Heat
[Steam]
1981
Lake Tissø
Gypsum
from
Germany
&Spain
Water
Flue Gas
Desulfuriz er
Waste Water
Sea Water
(for cooling)
Water
1973
Fuel Gas
1972
Gyproc
1970
Asnæs Power Station
1959
FGD
Sea Water
(fjord)
Aalborg
Portland A/S
&
Road Paving
Fly Ash
1979
Coal
Asnæs
Fishfarms
Steam
1982
Novo Nordisk
(enzymes, insulin)
LEGEND
Fish Wastes
± 1,000 Farms
for Fertilizer
Sludge
1976
Proposed
Core
Participant
© 1995 DBH olmes
Based on inf ormat ion f rom v arious sources, including
L.K. Ev ans, N . Gert ler, and V. Christensen.
Figure K2: the symbiosis at Kalundborg in 1985.
Ten years later, the web had developed further.
Between 1985 and 2000 the Symbiosis at Kalundborg became even richer in its flows of by-products.
1987
Statoil pipes cooling water to Asnaes for use as raw boiler feed water
1989
Fish production begins at Asnaes site using waste heat in salt cooling water
1990
Statoil sells molten sulfur to Kemira in Jutland (ends 1992)
1991
Statoil sends treated waste water to Asnaes for utility use
1992
Statoil sends desulfurized waste gas to Asnaes; begins to use by-product to produce liquid fertilizer
1993
Asnaes completes flue gas desulfurization project and supplies gypsum to Gyproc
1995 Asnaes constructs reuse basin to capture water flows for internal use and to reduce dependency
on Lake Tissø
1997 Asnaes switches half of capacity from coal to orimulsion; begins sending out fly ash for recovery of
vanadium and nickel
1999 A/S Bioteknisk Jordrens uses sewage sludge from the Municipality of Kalundborg as a
bioremediation nutrient for contaminated soil
Around 1990 high school students charted the network of exchanges and for the first time the plant
managers saw what they have unwittingly created.
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Kalundborg
Industrial Symbiosis
Anno 1995
Crude Oil
Statoil Refinery
1961
Water
1961
Kemira
Sulfur
1990
HDS
(for H¤ SO›
prod uction)
Hy droDesulf urizer
Water
Steam
1982
Water to Boilers
1987
Bio-treated
Waste Water
1991
Lake Tissø
Bio-treated
Waste Water
1991
Sea Water
(for cooling)
Water
1973
Heat
[Steam]
1981
Pop. 20,000
City of
Kalundborg
Gypsum
from
Germany
&Spain
Water
Fuel Gas
1992
Asnæs Power Station
1959
FGD
Sea Water
(fjord)
Flue Gas
Desulf urizer
Fuel Gas
1972
Gypsum
1993
Gyproc
1970
Water
(used & treated)
Aalborg
Portland A/S
&
Road Paving
Fly Ash
1979
Condensate
Coal
Heat
[Hot Sea Water]
1989
Waste Heat
LEGEND
Proposed
Water
1989
Asnæs
Fishfarms
Steam
1982
WWTP
Novo Nordisk
(enzymes, insulin)
Core
Participant
Fish Wastes
± 1,000 Farms
for Fertilizer
Sludge
1976
Drawn by D. B. Holmes
Based on inf ormat ion f rom v arious sources, including
L.K. Ev ans, N . Gert ler, and V. Christensen.
Figure K3:The web of exchanges in 1995: about 3 million tons per year
Energy and Water Flows
The Asnæs power station was coal fired and operated at about 40 percent thermal efficiency. Like all other
fossil-fuel power stations, the majority of energy generated goes up the stack. At the same time, another
large energy user, the Statoil refinery flared off most of its gas by-product. Then, starting in the early ‘70s, a
series of deals were struck:
The refinery agreed to provide excess gas to Gyproc, which had seen Statoil’s flares and recognized that
this burning gas was a potential low-cost fuel source.
Asnæs began to supply the city with steam for its new district heating system in 1981 and then added Novo
Nordisk and Statoil as customers, too. This district heating, encouraged by the city and Danish government,
replaced about 3,500 oil furnaces (a significant non-point source of air pollution).
The power plant uses salt water, from the fjord, for some of its cooling needs. By doing so, they reduce the
withdrawals of fresh water from Lake Tissø. The resulting by-product is hot salt water, a small portion of
which they now beneficially supply to the fish farm’s 57 ponds.
In 1992, the power plant began substituting fuels, using surplus refinery gas in place of some coal. This only
became possible after Statoil built a sulfur recovery unit to comply with regulations on sulfur emission; their
gas was then clean enough to permit use at the power plant. In 1998 it added a new fuel called orimulsion, a
bituminous product produced from Venezuelan tar sands.
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Materials Flows
In 1976 the Novo-Nordisk plant started the pattern of materials flows, matching the evolving energy flows at
Kalundborg.

Sludge from Novo Nordisk’s processes and from the fish farm’s water treatment plant is used as
fertilizer on nearby farms. This is a large portion of the entire Kalundborg exchange network,
totaling over 1 million tons per year.

A cement company uses the power plant’s desulfurized fly ash. Asnæs reacts the SO2 in its stack
gas with calcium carbonate, thereby making calcium sulfate (gypsum), which they sell to Gyproc,
supplying 2/3 of the latter’s needs.

The refinery’s desulfurization operation produces pure liquid sulfur, which is trucked to Kemira, a
sulfuric acid producer.

Surplus yeast from insulin production at Novo Nordisk goes to farmers as pig food.

A/S Biotechnical Jordrens, the firm that joined the symbiosis in 1999, uses municipal sewage
sludge as a nutrient in a bioremediation process to decompose pollutants in contaminated soils.
This has allowed for beneficial reuse of another material stream drawn from the city’s wastewater.

The new fuel at the power plant, orimulsion, contains higher sulfur content, thus increasing the
volume of gypsum produced from the plant’s scrubber. It also has heavy metal content yielding
nickel and vanadium by-products. These must be handled with care to safeguard workers.
This web of recycling and reuse has generated new revenues and cost savings for the companies involved
and reduced pollution to air, water, and land in the region. In ecological terms, Kalundborg exhibits the
characteristics of a simple food web: organisms consume each other’s waste materials and energy, thereby
becoming co-dependent on each other.
One may ask, “How significant are these exchanges at Kalundborg?” To answer this and similar questions
is difficult, as we do not have what the engineers call a complete mass and energy balance, covering all of
the Kalundborg participants. However, from the information which has been published, we can make some
estimates, which we have summarized in Table 9-1 below.
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Estimates of the Material Exchanges in the Symbiosis at Kalundborg
Material
From
To
Sold/free
Began
Quantity
[T/yr]
Fuel gas (x-flare gas)
Statoil
Gyproc
sold
1972
8,000
Sludge
Novo Nordisk
1,000 farmers
free
1976
1,100,000
Fly-ash & clinker
Asnæs
Aalborg Portland
sold
1979
200,000
Steam
Asnæs
Kalundborg
sold
1981
225,000
Steam
Asnæs
Novo Nordisk
sold
1982
215,000
Steam
Asnæs
Statoil
sold
1982
140,000
Water (x-cooling)
Statoil
Asnæs
sold
1987
700,000
Hot sea water
Asnæs
Fish Farm
free
1989
?
Sulfur (liquid)
Statoil
Kemira
sold
1990
2,800
Water, biotreated
Statoil
Asnæs
free
1991
200,000
Fuel gas (x-flue gas)
Statoil
Asnæs
sold
1992
60,000
Gypsum
Asnæs
Gyproc
sold
1993
85,000
Total annual quantity:
2.9 million
The quantities involved in these exchanges are about the same as the amount of coal which Asnæs buys
(2+ million tons/year) or the tonnage of North Sea crude oil refined by Statoil (3.2 million tons, now being
increased to 4.8).
Note that by volume water is the material exchanged the most, almost 85% is water, in either liquid or
gaseous (steam) form.
Lessons from Kalundborg
What can we learn from the Danes’ experience over the past two decades? Here are some comments from
those directly involved:

All contracts have been negotiated on a bilateral basis.

Each contract has resulted from the conclusion by both companies involved that the project would
be economically attractive. It made, in other words, good business sense to do it.

Opportunities not within a company’s core business, no matter how environmentally attractive,
have not been acted upon.

Each partner does its best to ensure that risks are minimized.

Each company evaluates their own deals independently; there is no system-wide evaluation of
performance, and they all seem to feel this would be difficult to achieve.
Without a conscious intent at the beginning to develop an industrial ecosystem, a very effective, and
environmentally beneficial symbiosis among half a dozen companies has evolved, albeit slowly.
Jørgen Christensen, Vice President of Novo Nordisk at Kalundborg, identifies several conditions that are
desirable for a similar web of exchanges to develop:
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
Industries must be different and yet must fit each other.

Arrangements must be commercially sound and profitable.

Development must be voluntary, in close collaboration with regulatory agencies.

A short physical distance between the partners is necessary for economy of transportation (many
transfers are not economically or technically feasible over long distances).

At Kalundborg, the managers at different plants all know each other. (This was a big help but may
not be absolutely necessary at other locations.)
Suggestion:
Encouraged by the successes at Kalundborg, consider all the ways you can do even better than Kalundborg
has done, and achieve your goals in a shorter time. Take advantage of their experience as you carefully
plan for a tightly integrated BPX, seeking environmental benefits and providing many tenant services which
even today are not available at Kalundborg.
Applying These Lessons
Industry Match
An important element of the Kalundborg symbiosis has been the match among the industrial players in
terms of inputs and outputs. The five major companies are in essentially different industries with different
input requirements and by-products. Opportunities to develop symbiotic relationships might be more limited
where the companies involved are in essentially the same type of industry, requiring similar inputs and
producing similar by-products. As in nature, diversity seems to have its advantages, providing both stability
and resilience. (However, in some cases plants in the same industry might be able to cascade materials
through firms needing different levels of quality, i.e. plastics.)
As we have seen, water is the most common material exchanged at Kalundborg. Even similar companies
may have beneficial exchanges of water and steam. We also have the example of the Houston Ship
Channel, older and many times larger in scope than Kalundborg, where most of the participants are in the
oil refining/petrochemical industry. So, again, absolute rules are few; your local conditions will probably be
determinant.
Size Match
The companies at Kalundborg are of compatible size in terms of their material flows. Thus, a single
agreement between two companies is typically able to utilize a significant proportion of the by-products from
the supplier and meet a large proportion of the demand on the part of the buyer. Where large size
differences exist between supplier and buyer the complexity of the arrangements involved may increase for
the large player.
Scrap metal dealers, of course, have successfully provided a brokerage function for many decades,
matching the needs of suppliers and users. Hence, in an EIP, one solution might be to have the park
management company play the role of broker, or to have them contract with an off-site broker to serve the
needs of the EIP. Then each industrial party would only negotiate with one party, the broker. If internal
supply and demand are mismatched, the broker can go outside of the bounds of the EIP to find other
sources or customers for suitable materials.
We observe that several companies in Kalundborg have successfully found distant customers for some of
their available by-products: Asnæs, fly ash; Statoil, sulfur; Novo Nordisk, sludge.
Suggestions:
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Appendix 1: Case Profiles

You may wish to survey the industries in your area or region; what scrap dealers, recyclers or other
intermediaries are already there who might be able to provide the brokerage services required for
your exchange.

Check your landfills too; what materials, in large volume, are disposed of there? Are these same
materials used elsewhere in the country, rather than being thrown away? Is that because there is
no local recycler or (re)user of these materials?

Is some of the waste material (both solid and liquid) produced locally being “exported” to other
regions of the country where there are willing buyers?
The answers to these questions may very well reveal local opportunities for new industries and new jobs in
your community.
Close Physical Distance
One of the important elements in many of the material and energy exchanges at Kalundborg is the physical
proximity of the plants. As distance between plants increases, the transaction costs increase. Where the
exchanges involve transfers by pipeline, the capital costs of construction increase; where they involve
trucks, or other wheeled transport, the initial costs are less a factor; but operating costs become more
important as do the environmental consequences of noise, dust, traffic and fuel usage. Where transactions
involve transferring heat in the form of steam or hot water, close physical distance is extremely important in
minimizing transmissions losses. Low-pressure steam, for example, is generally not attractive for off-site
use, unless the quantities exchanged exceed 500,000 lb/hr.
There is no single answer to the question of how close is close enough, as the answer involves a complex
analysis of the site specific characteristics of the individual transactions. The following questions should be
addressed by the parties to the proposed transaction:

What material or energy flow is involved?

What is the cost of obtaining existing or alternative materials or energy?

What material disposal costs could be eliminated or reduced by finding a willing user, even if you
have to pay them to take the material?

Do you need to change corporate financial or tax factors that tend to block capital spending to
reduce operating costs? (Changes in equipment or new infrastructure may be required to supply or
use by-products.)
Close Mental Distance
In discussing the conditions that enabled the Kalundborg symbiosis, Jørgen Christensen of Novo Nordisk
stresses the importance of what he calls the close mental distance. He goes on to describe a commonality
of mind that has existed among the leaders of the local companies and the City of Kalundborg. The city is
small, with a population of about 20,000, surrounded by a farming region, and at some distance from other
urban centers. All the managers are of about the same age, and have children of similar age who attend the
same schools. They are members of the same clubs and attend the same churches. The symbiosis among
their companies thus grew out of personal relationships of shared values, understanding, and trust.
One additional lesson from Kalundborg in this regard, is that close interaction at all levels in the companies
can be an important ingredient of success. The Danes found that though good, trust-based communication
at senior levels is essential to establishing the exchanges, close interaction among employees at all levels is
essential for optimal implementation.
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Cooperative efforts among the companies on such activities as training have also contributed to the “close
mental distance” feeling; as they have worked together on materials and energy related matters, they have
learned that they share other problems which can also be profitably dealt with collaboratively.
A critical question, then, is how can a set of company employees create this close mental distance without
growing up together in a small Danish town? We discuss some ways to build a sense of community among
companies in Chapters 10 and 11.
Regulations Create Financial Incentives
The Kalundborg symbiosis highlights two important aspects about the relationship of government to the
success of an industrial ecosystem. The first is that government regulation can be effective in forcing
industries to recognize and pay some of the so-called societal or “externality” costs associated with their
products. The second involves the clear evidence that the proper role of government is to establish
requirements and goals, but not to specify how to meet them.
Government regulations have played a major role at Kalundborg, as the symbiosis has evolved. First, they
restricted emissions of certain materials, such as sludge, to the fjord and sulfur dioxide to the air. Second,
they banned certain practices, e.g., discharging hot water ”thermal pollution” to the fjord. And third, they
compelled certain industries to do specific things, but then provided subsidies to help defray some of the
costs, e.g. the district heating program for Kalundborg.
Where government has established requirements, but has not specified technological solutions to meet
these requirements, the companies have been very creative in finding effective, economically feasible
solutions. Once these externalities became costs to the firm, they were quick to find ways of lowering costs.
In many cases the solutions have had unanticipated collateral benefits that increased profits, or reduced
total resource utilization.
The mandated reduction in allowable level of SO2 emissions is but one example. Asnæs Power Plant was
able to find a scrubber technology that produced commercial-grade gypsum as a by-product. Sale of the
gypsum to Gyproc resulted in a reduced demand for imported mineral gypsum, thereby lowering Gyproc’s
costs while improving the Danish balance of trade. This success required extensive collaboration between
Asnæs and Gyproc and others, such as the scrubber manufacturer.
But, where the government has stipulated the specific implementation for the companies to follow, the
results have been much less successful. Asnæs was required by the government to initiate a fish-farming
operation as a way to consume excess sludge. The operation was a money-loser until the government
permitted sale of the fish-farm to an independent operator who has converted it into a profitable venture.
(Fish farming just didn’t “fit” into Asnæs’ kind of business.) The government also was in favor of greenhouse
operations, but these plans were finally abandoned after growers elsewhere in the country complained of
unfair competition; the greenhouses in Kalundborg would have enjoyed especially low heating costs, and
the government was not willing to subsidize all the other growers enough to compensate them for their
potential losses.
Suggestion:
Either EIP managemers or organizers of by-product exchanges should carefully consider membership and
participation in the local Chamber of Commerce, in various industry or trade groups, and in periodic
discussions with authorities and other regulatory agencies. By being proactive in such areas, the entire
project can be in a better position to affect future legislation and rules, as well as being able to communicate
back to the tenants the current thinking in the governments about all issues of relevance to successful
operation of the tenant companies.
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Negotiations at a Local Level are More Effective
The companies at Kalundborg, most of which are branch operations with headquarters elsewhere (Statoil is
a Norwegian firm, and Gyproc is now owned by a British company) have found that the successful
exchanges making up the symbiosis have been negotiated at the local level. In many cases, the success of
the negotiations have depended on knowledge of the local situation that was not available to staff at
corporate headquarters.
Suggestion:
Make sure each potential tenant in an EIP understands the degree of autonomy management requires to
function in the exchange. The local plant manager may wish to establish local responsibility for negotiating
the details of the EIP participation.
Sources on Kalundborg
Gertler , Nicholas. 1995. Industrial Ecosystems: Developing Sustainable Industrial Structures.
http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/business/gertler2.html Dissertation for Master of Science in Technology and
Policy and Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA. Gertler's dissertation gives a detailed description of the exchange pattern at
Kalundborg, the Zero Emissions Research Initiative, regulatory changes needed, and organizational options
for creating and managing such exchanges.
Ehrenfeld, John R. and Chertow, Marian R. 2001. “Industrial symbiosis: the legacy of Kalundborg”, in Ayres,
Robert and Ayres, Leslie, eds Handbook of Industrial Ecology, forthcoming
The Industrial Development Council of the Kalundborg Region. Undated. Industrial Symbiosis – Exchange
of Resources. Kalundborg, Denmark.
Symbiosis Institute, Kalundborg, Denmark http://www.symbiosis.dk/
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